Nostalgia is the new new as old ad icons, logos and brand-related memorabilia are making a comeback. (Exhibit A: General Mills reviving the Cheerios Kid and Jolly Green Giant). It's not just consumer packaged goods giants, and Giants, who are stepping out of a time machine, either.

In one of the more interested branded content moves we've seen recently, Buzzfeed has partnered with GE as presenting sponsor for "The BuzzFeed Time Machine," which re-skins Buzzfeed.com pages to reflect a chosen decade and what its coverage and ads would have looked like then.

Elsewhere on the site, there's GE Rewind, a digital trip down memory lane, and "Then and Again,” a GE-sponsored channel inviting Buzzfeed.com users to upload an old and new image side-by-side to show the evolution of their lives and likes through the years.Continue reading...

Paris to Shanghai, by train. The concept alone dredges up an atmosphere of yesteryear, when Orient Express-style train travel was the luxury way to travel. And what two cities summon that fabulous yesteryear better than Paris and Shanghai, a city once hailed as "Paris of the East?"

That nostalgic sentiment is what Louis Vuitton is tapping into for its new campaign, "Louis Vuitton Express" — which kicked off this week with a teaser video, "Paris to Shanghai by Train by The Selby," — as the digital extension of an event marketing campaign that's rolling online, on YouTube and on Facebook from the brand's French HQ to its new China HQ.

But who or what, you might ask, is "The Selby?" And will "The Selby" be enough to get Vuitton back in the good graces of Chinese luxury buyers who have recently come to treat the the brand kind of like locomotive travel — a relic of the past?Continue reading...

There was a time in America when every Miller in the land (and pretty much everybody else) could not escape it.

“It’s Miller Time!” rang from the New York islands to the redwood forests. Throughout the 1970s, Miller Brewing used the tagline and re-introduced it from 1997 to 2002 to support its Miller Lite, which started the whole light-beer movement in America 37 years ago.

But wait! CNBC reports that “Miller Time” is upon us again. The marketing plan this time around is to use it to support Miller Lite, which could use a boost.

Beer Marketer’s Insights estimates that overall shipments of the brew have fallen 4.3 percent, CNBC reports. So from May to August, U.S. consumers can expect to hear and see the tagline wherever they buy beer. Miller Lite’s media budget in that time frame will go up 50 percent and new packaging will be introduced, MillerCoors CMO Andy England told the Dow Jones Newswires.Continue reading...

It’s a good thing Mad Men’s Don Draper lived in the 1960’s, when Madison Avenue executives were thriving and “style, confidence, debauchery, lust and action” defined the job (as the Emmy Award-winning AMC series would have us believe).

Today, of course, it's not quite so swinging: "the job market is pretty rotten. Opportunities are limited. Agencies aren't doing the same kind of hiring they were five years ago, and there's no denying that those closer to 55 are going to have a harder time,” Nancee Martin, director-talent at Omnicom Group's TBWA Worldwide, commented to Ad Age. "In the past, advertising spoke to the audience, now it's more of a conversation. There are a lot of great Don Drapers out there today, and the really great ones are the ones who've learned to add to their game and keep their eye on the prize," observed Robert Manni, president of Agent16, to the Guardian.

Indeed, Ad Age estimates that agencies accounted for 189,700 jobs in pre-recession 2007, but by January 2010, that number was down by 30,000 jobs. As of November 2011, agencies had regained 17,000 jobs, but not the same jobs, and the majority were being filled by younger digital talent. As the fifth season of Mad Men kicks off with a two-hour special on AMC on Sunday night, what is thriving is the marketing of products related to the franchise and the concomitant glamorization of that era.Continue reading...

Things haven’t been great at Wendy’s in recent years, but now it looks like the little pigtailed redhead has got plenty to smile about.

The chain hired a new CEO, Emil Brolick, last September. He called the chain’s recent financial troubles “self-inflicted wounds” at the company’s earnings call in late January, according to the Associated Press.

Wendy’s sold off Arby’s last summer, which was the start of its transition. Since Brolick’s arrival from Yum! Brands, Wendy’s has moved firmly into the growing fast-casual movement by “sprucing up the chain's locations and stressing the importance of good service,” MSN reports. "We've made great progress in getting rid of those F restaurants and getting more A's and B's, but we're still in that territory," Brolick stated in January.

Its improvement has also come from the introduction of new items on its menu, such as the W burger, which is “two patties of 100% pure beef, two slices of American cheese, thick-sliced tomato, and (the company’s) savory signature sauce — all on a buttered, toasted bun” for $2.99.

The restaurant also updated its trademark burger by introducing a revamped Dave's Hot 'N Juicy cheeseburger with a thicker patty and more cheese than its previous offering, and a back-to-its-roots marketing campaign that evoked the brand's legacy by featuring the original Wendy — Wendy Thomas, the daughter of founder Dave Thomas — in advertising and local appearances.Continue reading...

In January it will have been ten years since the passing of Wendy's founder Dave Thomas. Without him, Wendy's has gone back and forth in its campaigns, looking for the grounding and homey heritage that Thomas brought the brand.

Now Wendy's is reaching into its history to push a burger named after its well-liked pitch man. This campaign is a meal deal, served with a side of even more of its past. But going on its 12th quarter of flat or lower revenue at its restaurants, will the new sell of an old brand be enough to make the burger a hit?Continue reading...